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Indiana University Bloomington

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Explore Business Horizons, the Kelley School's
bimonthly journal publishing original articles of interest to business academicians and practitioners. Marc J. Dollinger, professor of business administration, serves as editor-in-chief.

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Journal Articles

Communication Style in the Salesperson-Customer Dyad

1985, Journal of Marketing Research

Kaylene C Williams, Rosann L Spiro

Abstract

The authors report a study designed to evaluate the use of communication style by salespeople and their customers. Using a paradigm suggested by Sheth in which the communication styles of customers and salespeople are categorized as task oriented, interaction oriented, or self oriented, they assess whether communication styles are related to sales. They first develop scales to measure these styles and then test whether the styles affect the sales outcome. The results suggest that communication styles are a determinant of the success of the sales interaction.

Citation

Williams, Kaylene C. and Rosann L. Spiro (1985), "Communication Style in the Salesperson-Customer Dyad," Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 434-442.